Shards of Darkness: Deep Shades of the Misty Cloud
by The Sorrowful Seagull
Summary: An elf teams up with a fe wothers to stop an evil paladin from conquering the world. Note: The fight scenes still have to be edited more, and that will hopefully happen soon
1. A New Beggining

Chapter 1 Rio  
The New Beginning  
This world I live in is not my own, and I doubt it ever will be. But still,  
I am here, and there is no way to change that. However if more know my  
story, there still may be a small light of hope. . . . . .  
My past seemed like a waste and I was glad that I had left. I didn't think  
I could leave Isis, but somehow I did. I started anew just like I had when  
I moved to Povent. I had stayed in Povent for about a year, a lot less than  
I had stayed in Sanduk. I had grown lazy with my battle skills. I wasn't  
worthy of the tattoos that marked me as a 10th Markh challenger. I yearned  
for battle, even if it meant that I would have to kill again. I would use  
my skills to fight evil and find treasure. Treasure hunters were well known  
around the continent, and I wanted to impress Isis. I headed east to the  
town of Aeris.  
The ride wasn't as brutal as the ride to Povent, but it still took a while.  
A few days on the road, and I finally made it. The town was in a desert, so  
my horse was slowed, and we used up water rapidly. I got to the town only  
to realize that it was like this as far as you could see. I sighed, and  
entered through the front gates.  
The town wasn't large, but it wasn't small either. There was a battle  
stadium in the center of town, and pretty much the whole town was around  
it. I could see a tower in the distance, but it looked out of place. I left  
my horse in one of the stables, and walked over to one of the shopping  
stands hoping to buy some fruit.  
"Hello," I said to the man running the stand. "Do you have any fruits for  
sale?"  
"Stinkin' Elf," The show keeper grumbled. "Can barely stomach any meat. I  
can't believe you people are still around. Yeah, I got some. Hold on just a  
second."  
I waited for the man to return, slightly angered by his comment. The man  
returned, and I paid three silver coins for it. "Thanks," I said, and  
walked away.  
I walked towards the arena, hoping to make some money on bets. I noticed  
that there was a big fight about to start. There were four combatants. An  
elven girl with purple hair that wielded twin scimitars. A dwarf with an  
axe and heavy armor. A young human boy with throwing daggers. And a huge  
ogre with a club. The ogre would most likely win, but I didn't care.  
I walked up to a man that was gambling with his friends, and said: " Twenty  
gold on the girl."  
"All right," The man said. I could tell by his robes that he was a mage.  
"I'll bet that the dwarf wins. Better odds for you. If neither of us is  
right no money exchanged."  
"Good," I said," And no fake coins."  
I walked around to find a good place to watch. I found a spot right behind  
one of the spike pits. I saw a few boys raise a flag on the side of the  
arena, and the combatants walked into separate corners. The boys started  
waving the flag, and the combatants started fighting. The girl calmly  
walked towards the dwarf. This right here would be the decision of whether  
or not I would win the bet. As soon as she got about five feet away from  
him, she jumped at him. The Dwarf appeared ready for this and was quick to  
respond. He thrust the spearhead on the top of his axe towards the girl.  
She didn't seem to try and dodge it, let alone even take notice of it. I  
thought this was the end, but I was wrong. The girl skillfully leaned to  
the side at the last second, placed her hand firmly on the shaft of the axe  
as it flew by her. Quickly placing her other hand on the axe also, she  
spun, with her feet facing the dwarf, and kicked hard in the face. The  
dwarf's axe fell to the ground, and his hands reached for face.  
"Fucking elf," The dwarf could be heard yelling. The girl snuck around the  
back of the dwarf, and quickly cut up the dwarf's spine. She could have  
killed the dwarf at anytime, but it appeared that she was having a bit of  
fun while she was at it. After a few more painful swipes, she dug the tip  
of one of her scimitars into the back of the dwarf's neck. The dwarf's body  
slowly slipped off the scimitar, and fell face first into the sand floor of  
the arena.  
The girl whirled around, and saw the ogre advancing. The boy was coming at  
her from the other side, but was still some distance away. The boy hurled a  
dagger at her. Either the boy was rather dumb, or he meant that throw to be  
a distraction. As the elf girl dodged the dagger, I expected the boy to  
have already thrown another own. But it appeared that my first conclusion  
about the boy was the right one: He was a bit on the lesser side of  
intelligence when it came to battle. After a few seconds, however, the boy  
decided to throw another one, which the girl also dodged easily. The dagger  
whipped past the girl's shoulder, right into the ogre, which stood behind  
her, ready to bash her with its club.  
"Smart girl," I thought to myself, but I talked too soon. The ogre pulled  
the dagger out of its chest, and stabbed down at the girl. Unaware of the  
dagger that the ogre now held, she spun around to behead the ogre. The  
beheading went as planned, but not before the ogre managed to wedge the  
dagger deep in her side. She pulled out the dagger, and threw it to the  
ground. The boy was out of throwing daggers, so he was weaponless. He  
promptly turned and ran away. The horrible truth suddenly appeared to dawn  
on the girl, as she noticed that the boy was running towards the dwarf's  
body, and his axe. She quickly bolted after him. She lunged at him, and  
sliced the back of his foot. Lucky for her, the boy wasn't wearing any  
boots, and she sliced the tendon in the back of the leg, crippling the boy.  
The boy had nothing left to do except wait to die. The girl walked over to  
the boy, who was now frantically crawling away, placed her foot upon his  
chest, and sliced the boy's throat. She wiped her scimitars on the boy's  
tattered clothes, sheathed them, and slowly walked towards the exit.  
I walked over there to meet her, eager to meet her. I noticed that she was  
walking with a bit of a limp, but she made it out of the stadium alright,  
and collected her money.  
"Hey," I said to her, and tossed her a dry rag to wipe the blood from the  
wound. "Nice fight."  
"Thanks," she said, and wiped the sweat off her face, then the wound on her  
side. "You're not from around here, are you?"  
"Why do you say that?" I asked, startled.  
"I'm one of the biggest thieves in the town. No one cares what I do. Even  
if I saved the town they would just say 'oh there goes that thief, probably  
made a deal with them to just back off. Probably one of my pieces of  
jewelry'." Then she looked up and saw a confused look on my face. "Sorry,  
I'm just babbling on. Thanks for helping, what's your name?"  
"Rionasthanuial Annonsul. I'm from Sanduk in the west. You can call me  
Rio."  
"My name's Molinasthalas Lamio. I'm from the port town of Ioga. I was  
finally caught stealing, so the threw me out. You can call me Moli if you  
want."  
"Do you need any help with the dagger wound?" I asked.  
"No thanks. I've got a guild up near the mountains if you ever want to drop  
by, but I better get going now. Good bye." She said, and dashed off before  
I could say anything more.  
"Oh well," I thought, "Better find that blasted mage."  
I walked back towards the stadium. Most of the crowd was gone, but the mage  
was still standing there waiting for me.  
"Well," The mage said, "I guess you won this one. My name's Kyorn," as he  
handed me the bag of gold, and pulled back his hood.  
"I'm Rio." I said, thinking of more to say. "Uh, why don't I buy you a mug  
of ale in the tavern."  
"Sure," Kyorn said, "I don't drink that much, but a mug of ale never hurt  
anyone, now did it?"  
"I guess not," I said, and grabbed the bag of gold out of his hand. "Come  
on, we better hurry up before it gets dark. I don't think that I'd want to  
be out here at night."  
"Good idea." Kyorn said.  
We walked along the outside of the road, not wanting to attract any  
attention. After a few minutes of walking, we arrived at the Snake & Goose  
Tavern. The tavern was a busy place, and because of the amount of people  
and the temperature outside, it was very warm inside: almost too warm for  
comfort. We sat down at a table near a window so we would be cooled by the  
wind blowing through.  
"Sir," I said calling the bartender. When he came to our table, I said:  
"Could we have two mugs of ale?"  
"Ale?" The bartender asked, "Why do you want something as weak as ale. You  
should try the Dwarven Ragnarok. Best liquor we got here."  
"Dwarven Ragnarok?" I asked. "Never heard of it."  
"What?" The bartender asked. "You ain't never heard o' Dwarven Ragnarok? In  
that case, I'll buy you both a mug of it. Don't worry, it's on the house."  
"Well," I said to Kyorn, "That went well."  
"I'm not too sure. I've heard that Dwarven Ragnarok has a bit of a kick to  
it. Well, maybe not a bit. Not many people can even stomach it." Kyorn  
said, hiding a chuckle. You'll be the laughing stock of the tavern if you  
can't."  
"Don't worry," I said, almost resenting the statement that I had just said.  
"Whatever," Kyorn said. "Well, before we get wasted, I have something that  
I want to talk to you about. A bit of an adventure that me and my friends  
are planning."  
"An adventure?" I asked, forgetting everyone and everything else in the  
room. This was the sole reason why I left Povent. "Where? When?"  
"Slow down." Kyorn said. "Don't think I'm going to let you join just  
because you're interested." then he lowered his voice even lower to make  
sure no one would hear. It didn't matter because no one was actually paying  
attention to us. "My friends and I are going to sneak outside the town  
tonight, and go into the dungeon of elements. We're going to try and get  
the golden disks. They grant the bearer one wish."  
"The dungeon of elements? Sounds exciting. Well, I don't mean that I want  
to go get myself killed, but I just can't suppress the feeling."  
"Well, are you a skilled warrior in either strength or magic?" Kyorn asked.  
I laughed. "You see these tattoos?"  
"Yes, what about them." Kyorn asked, confused.  
"They show people that I am, or was, a 10th Markh challenger. The highest  
you can be in the militia that I was part of. Of course, I haven't been  
fighting that much lately, so I probably won't be as good as I was a few  
years ago."  
"All the same. You're probably as good if not better then my men. You can  
come. As for a weapon, you could probably go get one with the gold you got  
from me. Plus, there's a reward for clearing the dungeon. The person who  
survives receives one wish." Kyorn suggested.  
"That's good." I said. "I'll probably go get it right after we leave."  
"Good," Kyorn said. "Well, look here. Our drinks have arrived."  
And so they had. The waitress brought over two large, foaming mugs of  
Dwarven Ragnarok.  
"Here you go," She said, handing us the mugs.  
"Thanks," I said, and she left.  
"So what is this stuff made of?" I asked.  
"Special dwarf mushrooms. Harvested underground in the Dwarven mines."  
Kyorn answered.  
"Wow." I said. "How do they grow down there?"  
"It's a fungus. It can grow basically anywhere. I guess you don't know much  
about plants." Kyorn answered. "Now go ahead and take a big whiff of it."  
"I was raised in a desert, Not many plants out there," I said, and lifted  
the glass to my nose. I inhaled, and felt the smell of the liquor burn  
through my system.  
"Damn," I said. "That's some strong stuff."  
"Hah," Kyorn laughed. "You haven't even drank any yet."  
We laughed together, I finished the Ragnarok, and (with a bit of a stumble)  
we walked out of the tavern, and towards the weapon smith.  
No one else was walking the streets at this time of night, but street lamps  
guided our path.  
"Well, this is where I turn off," Kyorn said. "Meet me at the tavern at  
high silver."  
"Fine with me," I said, and Kyorn departed. I continued straight, following  
the directions Kyorn gave me. I passed the stadium, noticing how small it  
was now that all of the crowds were gone. I continued on a few more streets  
until I saw a shield bearing a sword and hammer hanging from a signpost  
near the street. This was the symbol of the weapon smith, or so Kyorn told  
me.  
I walked inside, and saw a man still awake behind the counter.  
"I'll be closing up soon, so hurry up." The man said. I guessed he gets  
pretty bored just sitting behind the counter all day.  
"How much is that sword over there," I asked excitedly, and pointed to the  
wall left of me. It looked so much like the one that Aramil had given me.  
"More than any money you got. If I could sell that thing, I could retire  
and have enough money for my kids to be wealthy. It's would cost you a good  
twenty-thousand gold."  
"Twenty-thousand?" I said amazed, "You could retire on that. What's so  
special about it."  
"No too sure myself. My buddy found it in some ruined town not too long  
ago. Sold it to me for a good forty gold. Then some mage walked in, and  
said that it was magical. I'm just glad nobody bought it before he came."  
I was shocked. "Where was this ruined town?"  
"Some desert a long way west of here. There was another ruined town near  
it, but it looked like somebody was trying to build something there, so his  
group o' adventurers left it alone."  
"Aei and Sanduk," I whispered.  
"Eh? What'd you say," The man asked me.  
"Nothing," I said, while trying to rid myself of the memory. It was my  
sword. Aramil made it special for me. But I never knew that he could make  
magic weapons. I didn't even know that he cared for magic at all. "What  
about that other one over there," I asked.  
"Seventeen," The shopkeeper said sternly.  
"That seems a bit much," I said, but noticed the shopkeepers face. "But I  
guess I'll take it."  
The shopkeeper got up from his stool, and walked over to the wall where it  
was hanging. He unhooked it from the wall, and handed it to me. I took it,  
and dropped the seventeen gold into his hand.  
"Do you have any money bags?" I asked. Moneybags are woven pouches that you  
usually use to gold in. It also makes paying for things much easier.  
"Yeah, I can give you ten for two gold."  
"Fine with me," I said, and dropped the two gold on the counter he was  
sitting behind. He reached under the counter and pulled out a few bags. He  
handed them to me. "Thanks."  
"No problem," He said. "Hey, I like you. You seem like a good man. Are you  
gonna' be staying around these parts for a while?"  
"Can't really say." I answered. "I'm an adventurer, so if there's anything  
interesting around here, I'll be here."  
"Alright," The man said. "Good night."  
"Good night," I said, and walked out of the store. I looked up into the sky  
and saw the silver moon almost at its peak in the sky. I had to meet Kyorn  
soon.  
I made my way back to the tavern. It was even later than before, but the  
silver moon was still high in the sky, and it illuminated everything. The  
tavern was still roaring with laughter and talk. No one even noticed the  
group of people meeting around back.  
"Welcome Rio," Kyorn said as I approached. There were four more people  
behind him. One was rummaging around in another's pack.  
"Hello," I said. "Is this all?"  
"What, you think this isn't enough?" Kyorn asked.  
"I don't know, I thought there would be more. Oh well, never mind. I'll be  
happy as long as that little thief doesn't go through my pack. Who is  
everybody?"  
"Alright, well, rule number one: Don't ever call Fin a thief to his face.  
Where he comes from, everyone is like that. It's just what he's used to.  
Alright, that in the dark blue cloak is my mage partner. He's a half-elf,  
and wasn't welcome at home. Some say he was banished from his home, but I  
think he left because he was in search of magic. The tall one ove-."  
"Sorry to interrupt, but what is a mage partner?" I asked.  
"Don't feel like sewer rat. I didn't know what was either until I met him.  
You see, each mage has their own type of magic, and the gods of magic gave  
it to him, or her. I guess the gods sometimes slip up, and give the same  
type of magic to two different people. If those people ever meet, they can  
combine their magic, but at a terrible price. Yes, their magic will be  
stronger together, but individually, they will be pretty weak. Well, where  
was I, oh yes, the tall one over there is another half-elf. His name is  
Rashas. He's a ranger. He can do all sorts of funny stuff in the desert.  
Hide in plain sight, create whirlwinds, and even create some mirages. We  
pretty much rely on him for food when we're not home. The other one is  
Beorn; a human warrior. He wears all kinds of armor, and big weapons, and  
huge shields. I can barely tolerate him, but he's the fighting force in the  
group, so I can't ask him just to leave. And then there's Fin," Kyorn  
sighs, "He's the best pick pocket I ever met. He's an elf, but he's small  
even by our standards. Stands only 4'9"."  
"That's tiny. Well, we better get going before they start to notice us," I  
said.  
"Yeah," Fin said, stepping next to Kyorn, "He's got a point." Then Fin  
turned towards me, and thrust his hand forth, "Nice to meet you Rio, I'm  
Fin."  
I took his hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you."  
"Let's get going." The human said.  
Kyorn gathered everybody together, and introduced them to me.  
"Everybody, this is Rio." Kyorn said plainly. "He's going to come with us  
down to the dungeon. He says that he's a good warrior, only out of  
practice."  
"Out of practice?" Beorn, the human, said. "Bah. He probably is going to  
desert us because he's too afraid. Hah. I bet you both a bag of twenty gold  
that he doesn't make it out alive."  
Enraged by the comment, I stood a little closer to Kyorn and whispered into  
his ear: "Let me take this guy out now. He'll probably only be a nuisance  
later."  
"I know you don't like him, and neither do I, but lets not kill each  
other," Kyorn whispered back, "At least not yet anyway."  
"Fine," I said, and stepped back coolly. Then to Beorn: "I hope you're  
still around to pay off your bet."  
"Alright, lets get going," Kyorn said, and pushed Beorn and I apart. Then  
Beorn, Fin, and the rest of us followed after Kyorn.  
"You know what I think?" Fin asked me as we were walking. "I think that  
Beorn would betray us way before you would. You seem like such a nice  
person. It's hard to believe you're a warrior."  
"Well," I said, "War can do bad things to people. I lost my father, my  
friends, and everyone else in the raid of Sanduk. It's hard to believe that  
an army can just appear like that in so much force, and then disappear just  
as fast."  
"I didn't know you came from Sanduk. I've heard the stories about the  
Temple of Challenge, the Tower of Wisdom, and all of the other great places  
there." Fin responded.  
"The Temple of Challenge. I remember the first time I stepped into there.  
The greatest challengers and the greatest clerics from the Tower of Wisdom  
were there, all seated in a circle. I passed their tests, and after that, I  
spent more time in the Temple of Challenge than I did even at home."  
"I wish I could have been there," Fin said with a sigh. "It must have been  
such a nice place. I wonder if Kyorn would ever want to go. I'm sure Beorn  
wouldn't. He doesn't like elves at all. Hey, have you ever thought about  
the names Kyorn and Beorn. That's funny that they rhyme. I can't believe  
that they even know each other. I wish I would meet someone whose name  
rhymes with mine. Hey Rio, have you ever met someone with-."  
"Fin, silence!" Kyorn said in a loud whisper. "Can't we ever go anywhere  
without you rambling on?"  
"Well, if you wouldn't interrupt me, I might finish quicker." Fin stated  
angrily.  
"'Might'," Kyorn said to his mage partner, Reebus, and they both laughed.  
"Well, anyway," Fin continued. "Have you ever met anyone with a name that  
rhymes with yours?"  
"I might have," I answered, "But I never really thought about it."  
"Well, that doesn't really matter, we wouldn't have any time to discuss it.  
We're already here." 


	2. The Dungeon of Elements

Chapter 2 Rio  
The Dungeon of Elements  
I looked around, amazed. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.  
It was about a hundred feet tall, taller than any freestanding tower I've  
ever seen. There were stone gargoyles mounted every ten or so feet. The  
gargoyles seemed almost alive, as if they were going to jump out at you at  
any given moment.  
"Hey, Kyorn," Beorn yelled, "isn't this place supposed to be the 'Dungeon  
of Elements', not the 'Tower of Elements'."  
"That's precisely what this is, you big oaf. This place is the Tower of  
Elements. Dungeons are usually underground, and there's usually a landmark  
pointing out where it is."  
I laughed. I didn't like Beorn that much, and it was funny when he was  
wrong. I saw Fin dart off towards the tower, and I followed him.  
"Hey Rio, look at this!" Fin said excitedly as he pointed towards a sign  
hanging on the gates. It said:  
ONLY ONCE THE UNDERGROUND  
HAS BEEN CLEARED  
AND THE OWNERS CHOSEN  
WILL THE TOWER BE OPENED TO THEM  
"That's pretty odd," I said. "I wonder what it means by 'and the owners  
chosen'."  
"The owners of the elemental shards, of course. The dragons are said to  
have been here, and left tokens of appreciation for the people. Times are  
different now, and people and dragons aren't as close as before."  
"So what's significant about the Tower of Elements?" I asked.  
"What?" Fin asked astonished. "Don't tell me you don't know the story of  
the Elements?"  
"I can't lie to you." I said," I don't know the story."  
"Well, when the world was being created, there were only four beings: The  
ancient dragons. They each controlled one element. The Red one controlled  
to element of Fire. The Green one had Air and Wind. The Blue one had Ground  
and Earth. And the Black one had Water. These elements are important  
because with them, you can create anything.  
Well, these four dragons went around creating everything in the world  
wherever and whenever they pleased. Then, there were four spots of land, or  
whatever it was, and they all decided to make it all of their forces  
together. This resulted in the four great deserts: Aeris, Treumant, Yama,  
and Gaiur. The deserts were named after the ancient dragons, which were  
never seen again. The people erected the towers in homage to the new  
dragons, which spawned from the ancient ones. It is said that every so  
often, dragons come to the towers and leave gifts of appreciation for the  
people who build the towers."  
"Well, you could have said it a bit slower, but I think I understand now.  
Thanks for telling me." I said.  
"My pleasure," Fin answered.  
"Which dragon controlled which element?" I asked.  
"The blue one is Treumant, the red one is Gaiur, the green one is Aeris,  
and Yama is the black one." Fin said.  
"The entrance is over here," Kyorn shouted over to us. "Hurry up, it's  
almost dawn."  
I had no clue why we needed to get in before dawn, but I grabbed Fin, and  
ran towards Kyorn.  
We walked down the dimly lit passageway, going deeper into the earth. I  
knew that it would get cold as we went deeper, but I didn't think it would  
get as cold as it was getting. I saw a light at the end of the passage, but  
it seemed unnatural. It was white, and very bright too. I don't know how it  
could be so white, or how there could be such a bright light down here.  
"What is that?" I asked Reebus, who was standing in front of me.  
"I'm not too sure." He said. "Must be some type of magic, but it's strange  
that I don't feel anything."  
"What do you mean that you don't feel anything?" I asked.  
"All magic users can feel a faint aura of magic when there is some around.  
I don't fell any magic. None at all." He answered.  
We stepped out into the light and saw something that I never thought I  
would have seen. The light was coming from a white tree in the center of a  
room full of ice.  
"That's amazing," Kyorn said. "I've never heard of trees that give off  
light or trees that even live in this environment."  
"I'm not too sure it's even a tree," I said, "Looks almost like crystal."  
"It might as well be a wingless Pegasus, It's not right." Reebus said,  
"This has to be some kind of trick or trap."  
"You're probably right, but I can handle anything you throw at me." Beorn  
said, and started to walk forward towards the tree."  
"Beorn, wait," Kyorn said, "Reebus is right. We should probably do  
something first."  
"Who cares?" Beorn asked, "You said yourself that you don't like me. I'll  
be doing you a favor by dying."  
"That's not what I meant," Kyorn said, but it was too late, Beorn was  
already halfway to the tree.  
The rest of us stood silent and watched. As soon as he reached the tree,  
there was a bright flash, and he was knocked away. He got up, and started  
to walk back towards the tree.  
I had a bad feeling about this, "Beorn, get back here," I shouted, but he  
kept on walking. I admired his courage, but I began to think that this  
courage was actually stupidity. My gaze shifted to underneath Beorn's feet,  
where a dark shadow started to appear.  
"Get out of there!" I yelled, unsheathed my sword, and ran towards Beorn.  
The others did the same, but before we could reach him, the ice began to  
split. I giant white mass flew out of the ice. It landed between Beorn and  
the tree. I noticed that the creature was a white dragon. Beorn just stood  
there: paralyzed with fear. Suddenly, with lightening quick reflexes, the  
dragon lunged at Beorn, crushing him between his jaws. Red blood dripped  
from the creature's mouth, and it's gaze shifted between the five of us,  
probably deciding which one to strike next. This dragon was huge, spanning  
about ten feet tall, and about twenty-five feet long. Though this seemed  
huge to me, compared to other dragons it was only a child.  
I shouted a battle cry, and charged towards he dragon. Confused by the  
sudden onslaught, I caught the dragon off guard, and drove my sword deep  
into his shoulder. The rest of them got the idea. Before the dragon could  
respond, Rashas drew his bow and fired an arrow. The arrow hit the dragon  
just above the eye, but just enough to have the dragon close its eye  
temporarily. Reebus and Kyorn started chanting in the language of magic,  
and Fin scurried over to the dragon's blind-side. The dragon, still angry  
with me, opened its mouth, and released a breath of freezing water. I tried  
to jumped out of the way, but the water hit my feet, freezing instantly,  
and bringing me to the ground. I felt the pain crushing my feet. I couldn't  
move, so I was a sitting duck for the dragon.  
Kyorn and Reebus finished with their spell and shot streams of fire at the  
dragon, distracting it, and slowly burning through it's armored hide.  
Rashas shot another arrow, trying to permanently blind it, but missed and  
hit next to where my sword lay: embedded in the side of the dragon. Fin  
jumped up onto the dragon's head, and stabbed down through the skull. Fin  
missed the brain, which I assumed was his target, but instead he caused the  
dragon to go into a rage, spewing ice into the air, and whipping around.  
Suddenly the dragon spread its wings a flew up into the air, with Fin still  
attached. I was amazed at how far up the dragon flew, because we weren't  
that far underground. As I stood, stuck to the floor, I noticed Fin let go  
of the dragon, and the dragon's head exploded in a ball of fire.  
Rashas ran and caught Fin. I guess 'caught' isn't exactly the right word  
for the situation. Fin was moving so fast that he actually knocked Rashas  
to the ground when he landed. Meanwhile, Reebus melted the ice on my foot.  
"Thanks," I said.  
"No problem," Reebus answered.  
I felt the warmth return to my feet. I tried to take a step, but fell over.  
We all got a good laugh at that. I got up again to see Fin standing in  
front of me. "How did you make that explosion?"  
Fin smiled proudly, showing me a necklace. It was made of mithril, and had  
six small chain hanging down from it, but only one had something attached  
to it. I looked at it, and noticed it was a small marble. Inside of it,  
though, there appeared to be a small raging inferno going on. I stood back  
up, looking at the others for any suggestions of what it was.  
"It's a necklace of fireballs. Took me so long to make it, and that damn  
elf seems to keep on stealing it from me and using them." Kyorn said. "I  
haven't even gotten to use one yet."  
"I don't steal it," Fin said. "I just stumble across it when I'm looking  
through your pack, and think that it looks nice. I meant to give it back, I  
swear."  
Kyorn breathed a heavy sigh and put his hand out, motioning for Fin to give  
it back to him.  
Fin gave it back, then quickly hustled over to the dragon's smoldering  
carcass. He was trying to pull the sword out of the dragon's skull, but  
just couldn't manage to budge it. I walked over, and pulled it put for him.  
"At least you can walk again," Rashas said, 'We should probably get going."  
"Yeah, I agree with you." Kyorn said. The sooner we get out of this hell  
hole, the better."  
"Why not just go out the way we came in?" Fin asked.  
"I already checked," Kyorn said, a gate fell down, and it won't budge."  
"I guess we just have to go forward to get out." I said, "And there's only  
one door out."  
"Well lets get going." Kyorn said, "And stay away from the tree. It might  
summon another Dragon or whatever."  
We walked towards the door, and went through. There was a long tunnel, much  
like the one to the first room. We finally emerged into another room, which  
was about the same size of the last one. There were three statues of  
minotaurs blocking the door.  
"I bet that when we get near them, they'll become alive, and kill us." Fin  
said.  
"This is a very strange place. No matter what crazy things you say, it just  
might come true." Rashas said, pulled out his bow and shot an arrow. The  
arrow flew straight towards the statue in the center. As the arrow reached  
the statue, it put its arm up and caught the arrow, crumbling it to dust.  
"Told you," Fin said, almost mockingly.  
The three minotaurs started to advance. I, feeling stupid that I hadn't  
bought a long-range weapon, unhooked my sword, and waited for them to get  
to me. Kyorn and Reebus cast spells, and flaming swords appeared in their  
hands. The walked up and stood next to me. Fin also pulled out a bow, and  
shot at them. The minotaurs finally reached us, and the battle began.  
Kyorn, Reebus, and I engaged one of the minotaurs in battle, while Rashas  
and Fin shot arrows at it. We all slashed at the first one, and quickly it  
fell, but not quickly enough. It managed to get a swipe off with its giant  
axe, making all of us step back. However, Reebus didn't move in time, and  
was knocked over with a slice across his chest. With another arrow from Fin  
and Rashas, it fell to the ground, crumbling to dust.  
The second one didn't even bother to attack. Instead, it dropped its axe to  
the ground. Kyorn stepped up and slashed at the minotaur with his flame  
sword. The blade slashed across the minotaur's body, but as the sword cam  
in contact with the minotaur, the blade seemed to dissipate from existence.  
"Damn short spell!" Kyorn shouted, and tried to run away from the minotaur.  
But before he could, it reached down, and picked him up. It flung them  
across the room at Fin and Rashas. They dodged out of the way, but the mage  
crumpled against the ground. I brought down the minotaur with the next  
swipe of my sword.  
Fin and Rashas struck the final one in the legs, and it fell to the ground.  
I chopped off its head with one quick stroke. The battle was finished, and  
I ran over to Kyorn and Reebus. Before I got over there, I knew that they  
were dead. I didn't even bother to go even closer. I saw that there was  
nothing I could do to help them, so I walked back towards Rashas and Fin.  
"Don't either of you die on me now," Rashas said.  
"We'll do our best," I told him, "But we've been doing our best this whole  
time, and look where it's got us."  
We all fell silent, and continued to walk towards the door. We made it  
there safely, and walked through the door and the long passage that  
followed it. At the end of the passage, there was another room.  
"I sure hope that this is the last," Fin said, and we all silently agreed  
with him.  
We walked to the edge of the platform that we were standing on, and looked  
down. All we saw was darkness. A vast chasm probably filled with spikes at  
the very bottom. If there even was one that is.  
"I have an idea," Rashas said, and pulled out an arrow. He tied a rope to  
the end of it, and tied the other end of the rope to a rock. Rashas fired  
the arrow at the wall opposite us, across the chasm, and it lodged into the  
wall. There was a faint red glow that surrounded the arrow, and then the  
rock from the wall started to grow around the arrow, encasing it.  
"How..."I started to ask.  
"Magic," Rashas said.  
I just nodded in agreement. Rashas started to climb out onto the rope. I  
had done this type of exercise when I was training, and I hoped that I  
still remembered it correctly.  
All of a sudden, a strong gust of wind blew, and it knocked Rashas off of  
the rope, into the abyss.  
"Rashas!" I cried out. There was nothing I could do. I felt so helpless  
because I couldn't save them. They were just dying, and I couldn't do  
anything about it.  
"Um... Rio?" Fin asked, "How are we supposed to get across?"  
"We strap ourselves on." I said. "Do you have any rope?"  
"Uh, sure," Fin said, taking his backpack off. "How much do you need?"  
"Everything," I said. "We'll have to tie it around our bodies a few times,  
and maybe even our hands and our feet. I just hope to the gods that we  
survive this and a dragon doesn't fly up and eat us while we're crossing."  
"Yeah," Fin said.  
We tied ourselves to the rope with more rope, and started to cross. I made  
it across safely, and untied myself.  
"That was pretty easy." I said, "I would have thought it would have been  
harder."  
"Don't talk too soon," Fin said, "You never know what will happen until  
we're out of here."  
Fin was right, I did talk too soon. On the other side of the chasm, where  
the one rope was tied, a huge stone golem was trying to rip the rope off of  
the rock.  
"Fin," I said calmly, "Don't look back."  
"Why?" Fin asked. "Is there a giant stone golem trying to rip the rope  
apart?"  
"How did you?" I asked.  
"I had already looked back." Fin answered calmly.  
"Well," I said, wondering how one could have a sense of humor at a time  
like this. "Just hurry up."  
Fin made it across and untied himself just as the rope was torn apart.  
'Well," Fin said, "That went over pretty good."  
I just laughed, and headed through the door, barely noticing the rock that  
landed a few feet away from me.  
We walked down the hall, wondering what would be next.  
"Just so you know," Fin said. "I'm not going to die at this next  
challenge."  
"Why not?" I asked.  
"Because I'm better than you." Fin said confidently.  
"Better than me at what?" I asked.  
"Everything." Fin said.  
"Well maybe a few things, but not everything." I argued.  
"Nope," Fin said, "I'm better at you than everything."  
"You mean 'better than you at everything'." I said, correcting him.  
"Nope," Fin continued, "I'm better than you at everything. Besides, someone  
will have to die. Someone has during all of the other ones."  
"How do you know that someone won't in this one?" I asked.  
"Because I'm smart," Fin said, "and I never won't be."  
We walked into the room, and I looked around. There was nothing in the room  
except the white platform that we stood on, and black floor past that. I  
started to think that neither of us might survive this. At the other end of  
the room was a large disk. Kyorn had told me that it was the disks that  
granted the wish. I started to walk out onto the floor, and it crumbled  
away almost as soon as I put my weight onto it. A large fiery creature  
climbed out of the floor in front of the disk.  
"How are we supposed to get past that thing?" Fin asked.  
"You're the smart one," I said sarcastically, "You figure it out."  
"Alright," Fin said, "Uh, you your waterskin at it. Maybe it will hurt it  
because water stops fire, and it's water, and he's fire and...."  
"Sure," I said, cutting him off. I unhooked my waterskin from my belt. I  
cut a slit in the side of it, and threw it at the beast. It shrieked and  
sank back a bit, but I had tripped, and fell through the floor. I could  
feel my body burning. Fin used this to his advantage, and darted past the  
beast. He reached the disk before it could catch him.  
Fin held the disk above his head. "I wish that this fiery burning beast  
thing was erased from this plane of existence."  
The disk granted him his wish, and it disappeared. There was a faint  
humming that came from he disks along with a faint blue glow. I felt  
unconsciousness take over me. I tried to fight it, but I couldn't. I still  
lied burning on the charred floor.  
I awoke in front of the tower. Almost the whole town was there, watching  
us. I tried to stand up, but I couldn't. The last thing I saw before I went  
into blackness again was an elf girl with purple hair walking towards me. 


End file.
